Multilingual system having dynamic language selection

• US 20020111933A1
• Filed: 10/17/2001
• Published: 08/15/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Noble, William B., Moore, Sheri L., Al-Bakr, Faisal Turki
• Granted Patent: US 6,754,668 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A multilingual system provides dynamic flipping of a displayed form from one language to another. The forms include a plurality of fields each of which includes properties that allow the form to be displayed in accordance with the conventions of the selected language. When switching from one language to another, the form field properties are modified to properly display the form in the new language.

Claims

1. A method for providing dynamic multilingual display swapping, comprising:

receiving a form selection for display, the form including a plurality of fields that include information for each supported language;

querying a database for data corresponding to the fields contained in the form, wherein the data includes information corresponding to a plurality of languages;

populating the form fields with the data from the database;

displaying the populated form in a currently selected one of the plurality of languages based upon respective display properties of the form field data; and

switching the displayed form from the currently selected languages to a further one of the plurality of languages upon receiving a change language command that modifies the display properties of the form field data.

2. The method according to claim 1, further including placing the data from the database into a table.

3. The method according to claim 2, further including forming respective table entries for form field data in two or more of the plurality of languages.

4. The method according to claim 3, further including generating a table from the data having a column for a code and associated columns for the plurality of languages containing equivalent expressions for the code.

5. The method according to claim 1, further including providing a flipper mechanism for enabling a user to change the language from the currently displayed language to the further one of the plurality of languages.

6. The method according to claim 1, further including providing a flipper icon for enabling a user to change the language from the currently displayed language to the further one of the plurality of languages.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the display properties include one or more of the currently selected language, text justification, field location, number style, visibility, label location, and control location.

8. The method according to claim 1, further including using tags to modify the display properties in response to a change command.

9. The method according to claim 1, further including mirroring the displayed form about an axis when changing the currently selected language to the further language when the currently selected language and the further language read in opposite directions.

10. The method according to claim 1, further including encapsulating the display properties for the form fields.

11. The method according to claim 1, further including storing free text for the plurality of languages in the database.

12. The method according to claim 1, further including storing enumerated values for the plurality of languages in the database.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the form includes one or more of label objects, text objects, combination objects, command button objects, and sub form objects.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the form provides information for a military environment.

15. A system having dynamic language display swapping, comprising:

a processor;

a database coupled to the processor; and

a screen for displaying a form having a plurality of fields,

wherein data from the database for the plurality of fields includes display properties defining display characteristics of the form field data to enable dynamic swapping between a plurality of languages in response to a change display language command.

16. A computer program comprising executable code for enabling the computer to perform the steps of:

receiving a form selection for display, the form including a plurality of fields that include information for each supported language;

querying a database for data corresponding to the fields contained in the form, wherein the data includes information corresponding to a plurality of languages;

populating the form fields with the data from the database;

displaying the populated form in a currently selected one of the plurality of languages based upon respective display properties of the form field data; and

switching the displayed form from the currently selected languages to a further one of the plurality of languages upon receiving a change language command that modifies the display properties of the form field data.